


To Win

by Rakefetzyz



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Blind Character, Blindness, Boxers, Father-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 17:18:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13745658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rakefetzyz/pseuds/Rakefetzyz
Summary: Jack Murdock does what he can to help his newly blind son. Jack is very proud of Matty’s progress, but not so proud of his own choices.





	To Win

The third ophthalmologist refused to take Jack’s money. Ophthalmologist, that was the fancy name the eye specialists called themselves. A month ago Jack had barely heard the term.  


Jack and his son Matty didn’t go to doctors much. Matty got all his shots at the free clinic and they went once or twice when Matty had a high fever. But other than that they treated themselves. He even got Matty to patch him up after his fights, to save on medical expenses.  


Now he was seeking the best ophthalmologists in New York City. He didn’t care about the expense, because he hoped that one of them could help his son. His smart, spunky, nine-year-old kid ran out in the path of a truck, to save an old man, and wound up blind. It reminded Jack of the old joke that no good deed goes unpunished. But this was not a joke, this was his son’s life.  


Dr. Levine was in her mid fifties, with salt and pepper hair and a face that creased when she smiled. She confirmed the diagnosis of Dr. Chisholm, who saw them last week, and the guy the doctors called in at Metro General.  


She took Jack aside and told him sympathetically but firmly, “I wish I had better news, Mr. Murdock, but it’s time to stop taking Matthew to doctors and to start him on Braille, cane travel and daily living skills. He will never see again. These days blind people lead full and normal lives. But Matthew will need help at first and he will need your support.”  


When Jack asked about arranging terms of payment, she guessed how things were and told him to use the money for rent or groceries instead.  


The following Monday, Matty went back to school. He had to go to a special room for students with visual impairments instead of his fourth grade classroom. The room served all grades from first through fifth and had eight other students.  


The teacher, a petite red head named Ms. Halperin, explained to Jack that Matt would need to spend all day in her room until he mastered Braille, learned to use an adapted computer and learned various other techniques for managing in a classroom with sighted students. Her other students spent most of their time in their regular classrooms and only came to her for one or two lessons each day, for special help, or for Braille texts, audio recordings, and tools like raised maps. The goal was for Matt to get back to a regular class by the time he started fifth grade in the fall.  


When Jack returned to bring Matty home that afternoon, Ms. Halperin told him that Matt was making a surprisingly good start at learning the Braille alphabet. “Newly blind people often have difficulty feeling the patterns of dots in the Braille cells,” she explained. “But Matt has especially sensitive fingers. He has an excellent memory, too.” Jack couldn’t really afford it, but he stopped to buy Matty ice cream on the way home.  


Matty continued to make good progress. He brought his Braille books home to practice reading. He teased that he could already read better than Jack. Jack laughed and kissed Matty’s head. He never had the brains for studying himself, but he wanted something better for his kid.  


Matty was learning to get around with a long white cane. Soon Jack no longer needed to take him to school and he started doing chores around the apartment again. He seemed cheerful and seemed to accept his new life. He was fine in the daytime, but nights were sometimes difficult.  


Once or twice a week the kid woke up screaming.  


"No! Don’t let it get in my eyes! “  


A minute later he would cry out, “I can’t see!”  


Jack would pull a chair close to Matty’s bed and sit with him, holding his hand until he drifted to sleep again. In the morning Matty never seemed to remember the nightmares. But Jack remembered and his heart ached for his son.  


After a month or two of interrupted nights, the bad dreams came less often. Matty started bringing home real books again, not the beginner books that were just for practice. The Braille books were hefty and cumbersome looking. But they meant Matty was using his head again the way Jack had always hoped he would. He was also working on something called Nemeth Braille Code for mathematics, although he told Jack he thought it was easier just to picture ordinary numbers and math symbols in his head. The last six weeks of fourth grade Ms. Halperin decided Matt was ready to spend half the school day with his regular class.  


When fifth grade started, Matt returned as a full member of his class. Like Ms. Halperin’s other students he went to her special class for one or two lessons each day and for adaptive resources. The fifth grade teacher and Ms. Halperin always had something to report to Jack about how well Matt was progressing.  


Matty regularly brought home books and read parts of them aloud for Jack. One time he read a speech by an important judge named Thurgood Marshall. Jack didn’t fully understand it, but he was impressed that his kid was reading it.  


When he heard Matty read that speech, Jack knew that his son would be okay. It was proof that Matty could still use his mind to achieve a better life than his old man. Maybe Matty would study law one day, like the judge who gave the fancy speech.  


Of course, if there was ever an ophthalmologist anywhere who could cure the kid’s eyes, Jack would be the first one pounding on the doctor’s door. But his mind was at ease now about Matty’s future.  


Jack was less satisfied with his own life. He had agreed to throw a fight once because he needed the money so badly. But now Roscoe Sweeney and Silke expected him to throw fights for them all the time. They were telling him to throw his next fight against Creel.  


Matty looked so disappointed each time Jack lost. But it wasn’t only that. He felt like a cheat, like a man who had no honor.  


Just once he wanted Matty to hear the crowd cheering for his old man. But he also wanted to set a good example for his son. He wanted to be the kind of man his kid could be proud of, not a man who threw fights for money.  


He knew the danger he was bringing on himself, but Jack decided to win the fight with Creel. He hoped that someday Matty would understand why.  


Before the fight, Jack picked up a pay phone. He made a called to his bookie. Matty was doing so well in school again, as well as he did before the accident. He had to make sure the kid would have money for college.  


Next he called his former wife. She wasn’t in and there would be no time to try again. So he left her a message. He prayed she would step forward and take care of Matty because Matty was going to need her.  


Jack hung up the pay phone. Then he prepared to go into the ring, to redeem his honor and to win.


End file.
